Memorial weekend

It's a long weekend here. Memorial day on Monday. One of the few long weekends during the year. As the Americans unlike the Swedes, have very little vacation in a year, many people only get 2 weeks, and when there is a long 3 day weekend, it's like holiday!

We don't have much planned, didn't know until today that my husband didn't have to work today, but we will try to do something tomorrow or on Monday. Maybe go to a Zoo, that would be something that the little ones would enjoy, and the rest of the family aswell.

We'll see. Yesterday we spent the afternoon with our neighbors, we had planned to stay in our backyard, but the weather didn't look so nice first, so we ended up going across the street. Chris surprised us to be home very early, so we made hamburgers to throw on the grill, and had a small buffet to put on them, bacon, cheese, salad, tomatoes, potato salad. It was yummy. Chris had had his fitness test yesterday which he passed and is all good to go, so he was happy to be able to enjoy without thinking about what he was eating. We were sitting outside and it was just a great evening!

After a week and a half, we had a busy night last night. Isabella woke up around midnight, and just didn't calm back within 10 minutes as she use to, and when I went to check on her I realized why, she had made a very stinky diaper, and needed a change. I took her downstairs not to wake up Benjamin, but Isabella was so unhappy and tired and was just not calming down. She was half asleep, and changing the diaper was not what she had in mind. I was rocking, walking and trying to calm her down and get her back to sleep but nothing helped. We warmed up some milk to give her and she took it and luckily calmed down after that even if she took a long time to go back to sleep. I was up with her for almost 2 1/2 hours before I finally could bring her up sound asleep in her bed, and I didn't want to wake Benjamin by just putting her to bed...hard to know what's the best method and what will work best.

This morning they woke up again around 6.30am and Isabella of course could have slept longer, cranky baby. Now after a couple of hours of playing and breakfast they are down for a nap, hopefully a good one. When they wake up it's time for the grocery store to fill up the fridge. The weather is not as good today, cloudy and it looks like it's going to start to rain, so we haven't gotten anything else on the agenda. Hopefully tomorrow and Monday will end up better.

First day of Summer!

I had asked Cassandra if there was anything special that she wanted to do on her first day of summer vacation. She came up with a few ideas, she wanted Swedish pancakes for lunch, play a board game with me (which we had to push forward until today), play in the sun/pool and have a good time.

We had just that, a wonderful day. The kids were playing while I made the Swedish pancakes, and as it was really nice weather, and not too hot yet at lunch time, we ate outside. The twins really liked that and even if there was so much to luck at and so many distractions with squirrels playing in the backyard, lots of birds in our berry tree and our neighbors black and white cat coming over for a visit, they still ate good!

 

After lunch, I filled up the pool again, and the twins tried on their new swim pants. They fit perfectly! With them in the water, I couldn't get any good pictures of them, but I got at least one where you can see the pants. Have to take more another day.

Fun in the sun for a couple of hours, then we went in for an afternoon snack, Melon smoothie for everyone! Everyone liked it! The rest of the afternoon we played until it was time for dinner, bath and evening meal before bedtime.


I also had to call the nurse, the nursing consultant, today as I've had pain for the last two days. I thought that it was strange that I would have pain after finishing nursing for a week ago and the first days there was no problem, and she said that I have to watch it so I don't develop fever or it gets red. I had to pump a little and felt a little bit better, today it's not as bad, and I don't have any fever.

In the evening when the twins were in bed I really wanted to get started on the research on the computer, but I had received an answer to an email that I wrote after the babies birthday, and I felt like I didn't want to wait to reply. So I have to try to find the time today at the computer. We also talked about going on a short trip this weekend to see something new, and I should get a few ideas together and look into a day trip at least, as it's Memorial weekend, Chris will have off on Monday as well!

Greetings from Switzerland!

We got a package from Switzerland the other day. A wonderful package with presents for everyone. The little ones got such cute swim pants, perfect for the summer. This is the special kind that has a "built-in" diaper, so no swim diaper is needed underneath. Wonderful as here at the pool they are very strict about swim pants and diapers.

Then Cassandra got a pretty pencil case, perfect for next school year! And then there was chocolate for everyone - well mostly Chris actually, as he just loves this chocolate! The best in the world when you have lived in Switzerland! I must say it's really good, even if I still put Lindh chocolate up there on the top. There was actually more chocolate in the package, but here we had already had a taste...

Thank you so much Sarah and Co. for your thoughtful gifts!! It would be wonderful to be able to meet up soon again!

Decisions....

I have a lot on my mind. *sigh*

Yesterday my husband got back the first answer to his request of where he will be/could be stationed in the fall. I don't want to go into details until I have done some research, but I can say this much -  we are not screaming and jumping up and down out of joy...It's going to be a long weekend with a lot of talking and a lot of researching and hopefully we will come up with a decision.

Summer Vacation!!

Yesterday was the last day of School for Cassandra. Summer vacation - here we go!!! It's wonderful to have her at home all day and we are all looking forward to this summer, when we will be able to so much more than last summer when the babies were so small.

We had such a hot summer with temperatures over 90-100 F and above (30-40 C and above), and with the babies so little, I spent most of the summer with them inside with the AC on. So I didn't go that many times to the pool with her as I normally do, and we didn't go on any family trips and such. Luckily we had visitors!! :) First my dear friend Linda and her son Albin came in June, and then my brother and family came in July. That was awesome, to have some help and also for Cassie to have someone to go to the pool with! Chris worked pretty much all summer.

This year we will be able to do more, we will go to the pool, the sprinkler park, have play dates, go to the library, to playgrounds, to Carey Park, to the Zoo and lots of other fun stuff hopefully! Maybe we will also go to some overnight stays to other places, we'll see what happens. This summer we won't travel to Sweden as we need to save up the money for the new car and the move in late fall. We also won't have any visitors until fall, so we will have almost 3 months of setting our own schedule!

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the school with the twins to say good bye to Cassie's teacher and bring a little flower as appreciation. We have been so lucky that Cassie so far in her years in School always have had such a luck with her teachers. We will be sad to leave Mrs. Ediger's class, she was awesome and we liked her very much! Thank you for making Cassie's 3.rd Grade such a great one!

In School, we met two other wonderful teachers. Actually they were both first Grade teachers when Cassie started the rest of her first Grade after our move here, but she ended up with Mrs. Thorne! Melissa had told me that she would be there, and it was great to see her again. I hadn't told Cassie, so she got a great surprise too! The reason for the visit was to celebrate Mrs. Baumchen's last day in School. She has been such a wonderful teacher as well and I was happy to have both of them there for my baby shower last year. Mrs. Baumchen is the one taking all the wonderful pictures that day!!

Thank you to Mrs. Ediger

 Last pictures of the third graders..

 Benjamin & Isabella love to come to school and get attention from all the kids!

At home I got a lot of great pictures of my little ones - now all together for the rest of the summer!!!

Last - but absolutely not least - Cassie with her AWESOME report card. We are so proud to have such a great daughter that does her best in school everyday! She has worked hard and got rewarded for it! There is two pages of grades, and she got top grades in most of them!! Well done Cassie! Like I write on your little notes for school every day - I  love you and I'm proud of you always!!

Isabella - Say Pappa!

Isabella - Say Mamma!

Teeth!

Benjamin started to show off his tooth number 3 - upper left - just a few days after his birthday! On Sunday, May 22nd, we could really see it, and on Monday I got this cute picture of it! This is almost to the day two months ago since he got his first and second lower teeth!

Isabella has such a cute smile with her 4 front teeth! Started to show off the upper two in the beginning of May with just a day or two apart. As Benjamin, she got the upper ones just about two months after her lower ones.

Storm is over!

We are all fine! Thank you to you who have showed concern!! It was a little bit crazy, all day it was nothing, and I was waiting and thinking that well, it might not be so bad here, and like I wrote when I picked Cassandra up from school it was all hot and sunny!

 
It all changed very fast. When I wrote my last post yesterday around 4.45pm, it was getting really bad! It was all of a sudden almost black outside, like dawn and the wind really kicked up. The neighbors big tree broke off a few big branches. The rain started and then the hail. They almost always warn for quarter size hail, but we didn't have that big, but they came down heavy and strong for a while. The tornado watch that was issued here was on and I was glued to the weather channels on TV that keep reporting the newest and keeps you informed. I had earlier been over to borrow a battery radio from my Pearl, as we don't have one. In worst case scenario, you would want to know what's going on if you are in a basement..

I had prepared the basement for us, as the warnings of bad weather had been out there. I put up the twins playpen and got everything set in the most sheltered corner in the basement. For Cassie I have her old car seat as a seat on the floor that keeps her comfy and safe around the back. Next to the corner we have this old iron desk that you can't move, so that would be a good corner to take shelter from debris..I had pulled out blankets, sleeping bags and some toys for the twins, Cassie got a little bag ready with some as well. I got the flashlights ready, door to basement open and the way to run there cleared (baby gates off etc..)

The first storm was over after about 45 minutes, and then it cleared up and the sun even came out mixed with rain. Perfect, it's over I thought, but the news showed different. There would be another storm coming in later. As it now was dinnertime it was great to be able to get the kids fed and have a warm meal and then it was time for pj's for the little ones. We skipped the baths....didn't want to have them in the bath and then all of a sudden the power goes off...no thank you!

The storm didn't show to be coming in and they even took the issued tornado watch away around 8pm, so I put the kids to bed upstairs and everything seemed calm. Around 9pm it started again, already dark outside, it kicked up with rain and wind and the hail got loud again. At this time it was frustrating as I didn't really get a good indication on where the storms was and where it was heading, as Dallas, TX got under a big watch and most channels of course reported and followed this. No more tornado warnings were issued, and after an intense 30 minutes when I didn't know if it's was going to be better or worse, the hail stopped and the heavy rain stayed. The maps showed that it was over here and moving east.

I called Chris, who was still at work in Wichita, and the storm was heading right their way, the first storm they didn't have hail or anything really he said, but now it was raining. As the storm that just passed Hutchinson, would continue east, it would be exactly where he would be driving home. I did not want to have him driving on the open plain right into the storm, but he said he still had to work a little bit and later he called and said that he was leaving, and the map showed that it was passed, only rain. He came home around 10.30pm and he had had lots of rain, but nothing more.

I was so happy to have him home, and the storm was over for our part here. Poor people in Oklahoma, they got hit really bad with several touchdowns. I haven't gotten the latest news, so I don't know how many people died, but I know that there was fatalities. Here in Kansas, two people died driving in their truck when a flying tree came crushing into the car.

The weather has been so crazy this Spring, we are very lucky to be safe and sound and that we haven't had to see the tornadoes up close!

Update: Here is a link about the storm with more facts. 

It's here...

The weather changed from hot and sunny to hot and black outside. Turning off the computer now and will be checking the weather....it's a touchdown in Oklahoma, but here in KS we still only have Tornado watch...we'll be hoping for the best!

Still waiting..

So far so good, still waiting for the storm. Now it's sunny and really hot outside, sticky hot, so the humidity is probably pretty high. Just checked the radar, and in the pink area the possibility of tornadoes are high...that's parts of Kansas and Oklahoma.. Just came home from picking Cassandra up from school, good to have her at home and not needing to get out of the house in case it would be bad weather later..

Comments

Just wanted to give everyone that reads my blog and are kind enough to leave comments on my posts a short notice. I'm sorry when I don't find the time to comment back right away or at all the same day. Some comments might go unanswered for days, but I do read all of them and I do try to come back and comment on them.

The way I respond to comments is here on my blog under the post where the comment has been made. I know that many people do differently, answer back to the person under that persons latest post. For me it seemed more natural in the beginning to respond under the post where the comment has been made. That way we both remember what was written and what the comment is about. I hope that you who haven't received a comment or answer back is not upset that you didn't get a respond on your blog, I have most likely responded on my blog under the post.

Sorry if this is confusing to some of you, but as I went through all the comments and questions that I had on my latest posts, that I haven't had time to answer, I realized that some of you might not go back and look for respond and might think that I don't care to answer. That is not the case!

I'm very happy for comments and always will try to take the time and respond as fast as I can. If there is specific questions or something that concern something that someone wrote on their blog, I might respond back to their blog instead of on my page. If there is specific questions that many have the same about something I post, I might answer in a new post to clarify.

picture google

New Routines

This is how it looks here at home since a week today. The new routines that the twins started for their 1.st birthday is holding up so far!! Sleeping through the night and waking up around 7am. My feelings were right, it was their last time nursing on their birthday, so as they never have been drinking formula or taking the bottle, their new start of the day is with a cup of warm milk. Some snuggle time with mommy and daddy and some baby cartoons on TV.

After 30 minutes of snuggling, it's time for daddy to get ready for work, Cassie is brushing her teeth after breakfast and around 7.40am it's time to take Cassie to school. Sometimes I take her, sometimes Chris takes her on the way to work. After waving goodbye at the door, they are on the floor playing spreading the toys all over the living floor!

Then around 9am we eat breakfast, sometimes they eat a cut up slice of bread with butter and yogurt, sometimes they eat oatmeal with fruit puree, sometimes they eat pancakes..Then some more playing and then they go down for their nap around 10am. We still haven't figured out the nap routines after having them sleeping through the night, so it's still a trying period right now.

I want to push the nap forward, have an early lunch and then have a longer nap, now it's about 2 hours a few days they have slept later and then had a 3 hour nap, but that brings a very late lunch around 1.30 pm, but then they are up until they go to bed around 8pm. Especially Benjamin gets really tired in the afternoon still, they used to have an hour nap around 4pm, but I'm trying to keep him occupied so that we can keep them on the same schedule and go to sleep at the same time.

It's wonderful to have reached this milestone - no one who hasn't had a nights sleep for over a  year wouldn't know how to appreciate it. It's big, I do still wake up several times during the night, still feeling strange not having to tend to them many times. I know that there probably will be many times still when they will wake up or something is going on, but so far, I'm enjoying and appreciate every night!

Here we go again

Today will be one of these days again. Storm watch, tornado warnings and I will keep a steady eye on the weather channel and listen for the sirens....After all the devastation that has happened this spring in the US, days ago again in Joplin, MO, I feel different towards the warnings. 

Before you would here them, yes, I would always watch the weather channels, but I must say that it wasn't always that I went into the basement as soon as I heard the tornado sirens. In Chaplin, MO, the people had 17 minutes to take shelter from that the sirens went on until the touchdown that took out so much of the town and killed as for the news late night, so far 116 people. People are still missing and unaccounted for..

I will not be stupid, if the sirens go off today or tomorrow or any other day for that matter, I know where to take my children and try the best to keep everyone safe.

See that yellow rectangle in the middle of US?? That's Kansas, and we are in the middle of that rectangle! My husband works in Wichita and will be there all day. 

Cities in "high risk": Wichita | Oklahoma City | Tulsa

This is the fourth "high risk" day so far this spring. Here is a list of the other three days and how they turned out. While not all "high risk" days verify as major severe weather events, the record so far this spring is perfect.

SPC "high risk" days in 2011

• Apr. 16: "Carolina Outbreak" (69 tornadoes...32 in NC...13 in VA...26 killed)
  
• Apr. 26: "Mid-South Outbreak" (56 tornadoes....1 killed in AR)
  
• Apr. 27: "Southeast Outbreak" (232 tornadoes...315 killed)
  

Why is Tuesday looking so dangerous? Put simply, it's a setup straight out of meteorology textbooks. 

1-2-3

As I was counting in numbers in birth order, I came to think of this that I happened to find on a page not long ago. I love it, a little bit different and so personal! This would be a necklace that I would wear on a long chain around my neck, as it's quite big. Love - love -  love it!

Darling Numbers -You can find them here.

Number 3

I love you!!!

Number 2

I love you!!!

Number 1

I love you!!!

Fun in the Sun!

Sunday is Funday here at home.  As Chris has to work most Saturdays, Sundays are normally the only Family day that we've got, and we try to make the most of them. We had a big pancake breakfast, and the twins munched away, eating almost two (American) pancakes each. As they had slept good during the night we thought that we maybe could keep them up and skip the morning nap, but no, they are not quite ready for that yet. Especially Benjamin was getting super tired and really whinny, and I don't want to split their bedtimes/naptimes, so Isabella had to take a nap aswell. They slept for almost 3 hours, so it was a late lunch at 1.30pm, but after lunch it was time to enjoy the pool in the garden again.

Cassandra had helped me while the twins were taking their nap, to clean out the pool, to spray off the patio and to get everything ready. Chris had to work for a couple of hours this afternoon, as he had I believe two guys that he enlisted who were graduating High School, and to show respect and to honor them, he went to their Graduation to congratulate them and to talk to the parents.

We had a great time in the garden, it was hot and sunny, but not too hot, which was great! Isabella really liked the pool, so did Benjamin, but he wanted to come out once in a while and just snuggle and play on the blanket, while Isabella played with Cassie in the pool.

Benjamin warming up on the blanket!

 Isabella loves the water...

 ..just like her big sister!

To keep them  happy in the pool, I even had to go in for a while and they loved that! While we were playing, Chris came home and I got a picture of him in his "Dress blue" before he quickly changed over! It was so hot in the uniform, and he was happy to get out of it! 

Cassie took some pictures!

 

Hot in uniform..

In the evening we put some meat on the BBQ and had a nice dinner with baked potatoes and grilled asparagus. It was nice! It would have been nice to sit outside, but the twins started to get so tired after all the sun and the play so they were not that happy. We ate inside, were they could play in the living room while we ate. We had run out of oatmeal for them, so Chris and Cassie went to the store to get some. On their way home they also stopped by Bogey's for an ice cream for Cassie! After their oatmeal they were happy to go to bed. No one even resisted - not a cry nothing!!! I still have a hard time believing that our babies have reached this point! After Cassie went to bed to finish watching her movie that she started earlier, we had some ice cream on the sofa watching "Army wives".